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Baby Chrome
}} The Baby Chrome , p.464, and , item 4100, call the camera "Tsubasa Baby Chrome", probably by mistake. (ベビー・クローム) is a Japanese 3×4 bakelite camera sold from 1936 by Optochrom. Its main competitor was the Olympic C, released the same year. Description The Baby Chrome has a black bakelite body, with the name BABY–CHROME moulded at the front. The camera's body shape and general aspect is inspired by the Mentor Dreivier. The latter has unit focusing, driven by a large helical at the base of the lens tube. This is imitated in the Baby Chrome: the lens and shutter assembly is surrounded by a heavy metal ring, with Baby–Chrome engraved at the top and the serial number at the bottom. This fake focusing ring does not rotate and the whole assembly is mounted on a telescopic tube, which must be pulled forward before taking pictures. There is a tubular optical finder in the middle of the top plate and a cylindrical post on the right of the finder, vaguely looking like a shutter release, but actually used to attach an external rangefinder. The advance knob is at the left end of the top plate. The whole top plate comes off together with the back to load the film. The shutter is everset and tripped by a release lever directly mounted on the shutter housing. The aperture is set at the bottom of the shutter plate. Evolution Early model The early model of the Baby Chrome has two red windows in the back, both uncovered. The advance knob is cylindrical, has three knurled rows on the rim and is attached by a flush screw. The camera was released in late 1936, and the earliest advertisement is reportedly dated October. , p.336. An undated leaflet, Undated leaflet for the Victory, Semi Dymos, Reex, Baby Ref, Union Ref and Baby Chrome. pictured in this page, shows what is probably the original version. The following variants are listed: * New Gold f/6.3 fixed-focus lens, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds (¥18); * New Gold f/4.5 focusing lens, T, B, 25, 50, 100 speeds, (¥33). Only the f/6.3 variant is illustrated. The lens rim is black and is engraved Baby-Chrome 1:6,3 F=50mm in white. The shutter plate is marked Optochrom at the top and presumably DUPLEX at the bottom. There is a logo in a circle on the right, apparently different from the NE logo of the later versions. The speed scale is engraved on the shutter rim in that order: 100, 50, 25, B. The aperture scale, from 6.3 to 15, is perhaps inscribed on a separate plate attached by two screws. No surviving example of the original version has been observed so far. The regular version has a different shutter plate, marked OPTOCHROM SHUTTER at the top, with an NE logo between both words, and NEW GOLD at the bottom. The speed scale is directly inscribed at the top, in the order B, 25, 50, 100, and the aperture scale is directly inscribed at the bottom. The f/6.3 lens bezel is chrome plated and engraved NEW-GOLD 1:6.3 F=50mm in black. This version is pictured in the advertisement in February 1937, Advertisement reproduced in , p.61. listing the same two variants: * Optochrom shutter (B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f/6.3 lens ( — case ¥3.50 extra); * Optochrom shutter (T, B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f/4.5 lens ( ). An advertisement by the distributor Matsuzaki Shashinki-ten dated May 1937 shows the same version and only lists the f/6.3 lens option. Advertisement in Sunday Mainichi, May 2, 1937, reproduced at Gochamaze. The regular version has only been observed with the f/6.3 lens so far. See for example , items 4023–4, or this page at Asacame. Late model The late model has a more rounded advance knob, having a single row of knurls and a concave top with a protruding axle. The shutter plate has three metal stripes on each side of the lens, and is marked TSUBASA at the top and NEW GOLD at the bottom, with the NE logo on the right. The TSUBASA marking certainly explains why this model is called "Tsubasa Baby Chrome" in , item 4100. The back has a single uncovered red window, placed at the bottom right. (It seems that the 127 film sold in Japan received a series of numbers for 3×4cm exposures in the mid or late 1930s, allowing to use a single red window.) All the examples observed so far have an f/6.3 lens. The late model appears in advertisements dated September 1938, February and April 1939. Advertisement in September 1938, reproduced at Gochamaze; advertisements in February and April 1939, reproduced in , pp.78–9. Two options are listed: * Tsubasa shutter (B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f/6.3 lens ( — case ¥4.50 extra); * Tsubasa shutter (B, 25, 50, 100), New Gold f/4.5 lens ( ). A further advertisement dated December 1939 has the f/6.3 option only. Advertisement on p.18 of , December 15, 1939, reproduced on p.52 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. The camera is mentioned in the list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, under the names "Baby Chrome I" (¥19) and "Baby Chrome II" (¥32) with no further detail. , type 1, sections 1 and 2. The Baby Chrome I probably corresponds to the f/6.3 version and the Baby Chrome II to the f/4.5 version. The last advertisement reported for the Baby Chrome is dated September 1941. , p.336. Optochrom released the Tsubasa Arawashi 3×4 camera in 1939 but it seems that the two cameras were sold side by side for some time. Notes Bibliography Original documents * Anonymous company. Leaflet for the Victory, Semi Dymos, Reex, Baby Ref, Union Ref and Baby Chrome. Date not indicated. Document reproduced in this Flickr album by Rebollo_fr. * Type 1, sections 1 and 2. * Advertisement on p.52, corresponding to p.18 of the December 15, 1939 issue. Recent sources * Item 91. (See also the advertisements for items 144 and 147.) * P.464. * Items 4023–4 and 4100. Links In Japanese: * Baby Chrome in this page among A–Z 127 film cameras at Asacame. The camera is mistakenly presented as an Olympic, and some of the specifications are wrong. * Advertisements reproduced in the Japanese camera page, the small format camera page and the camera company page of the Gochamaze website: ** Advertisement for the Baby Chrome, published in the 2 May 1937 issue of Sunday Mainichi ** Advertisement for the Baby Chrome and Tsubasa range, published in the September 1938 issue of Category: Japanese 3x4 viewfinder Category: Bakelite Category: Kigawa Category: B Chrome, Baby Category: 1936